I love... Alpine style!

My love of Alpine style began at a very early age - my parents went on a trip to Switzerland when I was three, and brought back some lovely things and lots of photos. I loved to look at the slides of their trip. The postcard above is the one they sent me (I was staying with my grandparents), and it started off a large collection of postcards! They also brought back the yoyo above, and small cuckoo style clocks for both my grans - one of which I now have. The coin is a Swiss one with my year of birth (I also have one somewhere with their date of marriage). The hankie above is one from the Tirol that belonged to my great-gran.

I became a great fan of the Chalet School books by Elinor Brent-Dyer, and when I saw a bus trip to Austria advertised that included a trip to the Achensee (the inspiration for the Tiernsee in the books), I jumped at the chance. 

These are some of my souvenirs from that trip - an Austrian doll, a beautifully painted wooden brooch that I wear a lot, a souvenir mug from a cafe in Rattenberg, a string of beads, and two beautifully painted glasses. The beads and glasses also came from Rattenberg, which is famous for glass.

Here are some pretty ribbons, one of which was from one of the cow bells I bought (more on them tomorrow!), and the others bought closer to home.

Seefeld was one of the places I really loved in Austria, so when I saw this box going cheap at an antiques fair, I had to have it. The spoon is a Rolex one that my parents bought me on their second, much more recent, trip to Switzerland!

 I really should use this eidelweiss bag and edelweiss scarf I bought in Austria more often!

For the next few days I'll be continuing the Alpine theme!